VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: Put Patients Not Cash First, Gordon

THERE may be all sorts of reasons why the number of hospital trust A&Es tackling the most serious emergencies has dropped from 204 to 156.

But if there are, the Department of Health has been unable to provide them, either to MPs or The People.

Which is just typical of this most cack-handed of Government departments.

So once again it seems the inability of ministers to control NHS purse strings is to blame, and no-one wants to admit it.

A&Es operate on fixed budgets, no matter how many patients they treat. So the best ones end up spending more of their own money for the privilege of being victims of their own success.

When hospitals are plunged into debt by management cock-ups, it is only natural they should seek to make savings.

And with life-threatening conditions costing three times more than the walking wounded, curtailing A&E services must be tempting.

Yet whenever decisions are made on the basis of cash rather than care, patients will suffer somewhere along the line.

So we are deeply suspicious of further plans to slash the number of casualty departments in favour of specialist A&E centres.

It may be that patients will have to travel further to receive better treatment when they get there.

But if that is the case, this Government has yet to make it. Which is why Gordon Brown must get a grip on the NHS.

As his top priority as Prime Minister.

(c) 2007 People, The; London. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.